


Twin Summers

by Stryfe



Series: Gifts for Nanako-san (ナナコさんのプレゼント) [1]
Category: Marvel, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: I hate Scott Summers, I love Stryfe, Kid! Stryfe and Nathan Summers, he is a cutie that needs more love, people just don't understand him o.o
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 16:28:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15147161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stryfe/pseuds/Stryfe
Summary: What if Nathan had been returned? What if Stryfe had been saved early on? My take on Jean and how she might have responded.





	Twin Summers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nananko](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Nananko).



> This is a gift for Nanako because I've always wanted to write about kid Stryfe, because I am overdue on Nanako gifts, and because of Nana's pretty art piece below!! Please check it out! :D
> 
> Artwork link: https://nanakobanana.tumblr.com/post/175043079586/little-summers
> 
>  
> 
> All characters belong to their respective owners (Marvel, etc.). My stories may not be posted elsewhere or otherwise used or changed without my sole permission.

Jean sat watching the snow fall from her lawn chair at the firepit. Although it was late into the night, the moon was bright and gave her a wide range of vision across the backyard of the X-Mansion. Everywhere she could see had long been blanketed in the white cover, minus the small three-hundred-and-sixty-degree radius around her. Her blue telekinetic bubble kept her from the weather, but did not stop the freezing air around her. Although she would have loved to had Storm here for the support and her champion weatherman forecast skills, a mink blanket – reminiscent of a white Bengal tiger – and a green, light jacket (Stolen from one Scott Summers, now turned into her permanent property) she held tight in her arms would have to be her only sources of warmth.

                Jean’s gaze was focused on the pine tree, not twenty feet from here. According to the Askani message, a very important package would arrive here from the future soon and both Jean and the jacket were more than ready to receive it. It had been a few years since she had given up Nathan. Never again had Jean expected to see her child, much less get him back. For reasons unknown, the Askani had decided to hide Nathan away in the place he’d come from. Plain sight, maybe? Her nose wrinkled in a somehow graceful looking expression of disgust. Nate was, on a technicality… Madelyne’s son. However, she had neither seen nor heard from the memories taken from Madelyne anything about Nate having a twin brother. Considering how Madelyne had handled Nathan, both before and after the whole ‘demon sacrifice’ phase, Jean found it hard to believe Madelyne or any of the X-Men might have lost or not known about a second child. Unless, of course, even Madelyne didn’t have those memories, which was the only excuse for the sudden appearance of a second son that she could think of.

                And it all led back to her beloved husband, Scott. Jean knew she  _should_  have told Scott about their second child, yet in between all the world-on-the-verge-of-destruction missions and observing how Scott interacted with Nathan… Jean couldn’t bring herself to tell him. Despite getting Nate back, Jean saw a huge distance between Scott and Nathan. It was as if Scott couldn’t, or perhaps didn’t want, to find out how to bridge the distance like Jean had with their son. Jean’s doubts and fears began to creep up her arms, wanting to strangle her again. The situation with Scott seemed to be related to the newest X-…Acquaintance, Emma Frost. Ever since her temporary hiatus from the mansion, Scott and the X-Men, Scott and Emma seemed close. Secret smiles, fond interactions accompanied by laughter, and those damned smirks she received from Frost, like she knew a secret. Despite the situation unsettling her, it felt like she and Nathan were alone in their own little world, since he refused to interact with anyone else aside from Jean. A smile crept onto her face though when she thought of the companion they would gain, a new son and brother.

                It took another several hours, spent mostly watching and listening to Nathan’s adorable dreams, for the Askani guards to come. Dawn’s earliest rays of light were peeking into the world as two men, covered in blood stained armor, appeared in a small flash of light. Jean abandoned Nathan’s mind for the moment, nearly tripping before she righted herself with her powers as she rushed over to the one who held a small bundle in his arms. The jacket flew itself into Jean’s arms, opening wide to receive its new owner, who was almost thrown immediately into Jean’s arms.

                ‘ _Lady Grey, your son, Stryfe. With a Y, as he has so deigned to shriek at us, when we had the audacity to misspell it aloud.’_ Jean looked down as the blanket was pulled off Stryfe’s body and to her great shock and terror, the Askani man worked fast to remove a gag and soft cloths that had bound his ankles and wrists.

                “What did you do to him?!” Jean hissed, lip curling as she wrapped the jacket around her child’s body, turning enough to protect Stryfe with her body if it came to it.

                He held his hands up and backed away to stand next to his ally. “Read the child’s mind, find your answers there. The only answer you will not find is what I tell you now: Stryfe is Nathan’s clone. Our leader, Askani, as a… safeguard for the world’s future and against the TO virus that was ravaging Nathan’s body… She cloned your son. Shortly after we had taken Nathan into the future, in an attempt to steal him, Apocalypse attacked the facility we were in. Thanks to the cloning process, the virus went into remission and we were left with a second child. However, Apocalypse found us and attacked, trying to steal Nathan, yet we had gotten him out at the cost of Stryfe.”

                Taking in the furious look, the man hesitated for only a moment. “It was our crime to use the opportunity of Stryfe’s kidnapping to raise Nathan in relative safety, we _know_. But, due to recent troubles after we sent Nathan back to you, we knew we had to get Stryfe out of there as well since Apocalypse found out about there being two ‘Nathan Summers’.” His eyes slid down momentarily to the unconscious child. No reaction came upon seeing the friction burns on Stryfe’s wrists and ankles, nor the dark bruises spread over the visible parts of Stryfe’s body. “When we found him still alive, we lost nearly everyone to get him out but it is done. Do as you will with the knowledge of the clone but now, we go.”

                With that, he nodded to his friend and disappeared in the same flash with no trace but some bloodstains in the snow where he’d stood. Though her face twisted still with a motherly rage at Stryfe’s condition, it abated some as she raked her gaze over him. Excluding the burns and bruises, he seemed healthy. A tiny smile came and went as the warmth and joy flooded through her. Just like Nathan, he had her red hair… A bit longer, but no less gorgeous. Jean turned around and began a brisk walk back to her bedroom, her new predicament consuming her thoughts.

 _Stryfe._ A strange name for a child, but if what he’d stated had been true, then a good deal of work would be needed to correct any of Apocalypse’s brainwashing on Stryfe. The work would be frustrating, but Stryfe was a child still and the process would be easier than it would be had they found him later in life. What agitated her the most, however, was the bit about Stryfe being Nathan’s clone.

Askani had told them nothing of Nathan’s future. _Especially_ not one about creating a whole new person. Every clone Jean had seen so far had either been mindless or crazy. They had had the **illusion** of life, of being their own unique person but they had had no soul. Among the many reasons she’d seen some become monsters? None could handle the truth about being a copy of someone else. Even fewer clones, if any, had true sentience but if they’d gone to the trouble, was Stryfe perhaps genuinely sentient on his own? Was this related to Askani having had the Phoenix force? Or was it by chance that Stryfe was simply special? Regardless, how would she be able to keep the truth from Stryfe if he got sick and needed medical care? This was her son, Jean could **not** let him go the way of other clones.

She ground her teeth, ignoring the manic mood swings as a sickening feeling clutched her stomach. Taking a moment to wipe off the snowflakes she’d failed to shield Stryfe from, a sigh of relief fled her lungs as Stryfe’s face twitched, a sharper breath than she would like, but a reaction at least. She snuck quietly to her room door and opened it to a surprising yet soft glowing orange light. Scott’s salt lamp was on with no sign of her husband. His covers were pulled back, having been left that way, and revealed Nathan curled into a ball in on her side of the bed. She placed Stryfe gingerly on the bed and skimmed her hand over the cold sheets where Scott should have been. She shook her head, eyes watering, as she took her time getting dressed into her short, purple silk nightgown and green cotton sleep pants. Floating over the bed, Jean delicately laid herself down and pulled the covers up. She levitated her two boys closer to her and began stroking their heads, hoping to remind and give both her and her children comfort as they slept, beginning her new wait for Stryfe to wake up.


End file.
